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By GCN Staff

DISA to try again for big data cloud storage

The Defense Information Systems Agency will re-open to competition a sole-source contract it just awarded for big data storage after potential competitors emerged to pursue the advanced cloud services contract.

DISA said in a May 20 notice that it would cancel the $45 million non-competitive contract it made in April to Alliance Technology Group, a small disadvantaged business based in Hanover, Md.

The contract called for developing a large data object (LDOS) cloud service capable of storing the torrent of imagery files generated by Defense intelligence sensors and systems.

In justifying the original award, DISA had said it needed the LDOS technology because it lacked capacity in its own data centers to build it and did not have the funding to purchase the hardware to do the job.

The contract for a secure intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) storage cloud called for systems capable of handling an exabyte, or 1 million terabytes, of data, some of it generated by drones and other advanced data-taking technologies.

DISA wanted the cloud to be capable of storing full-motion video, including data from the Air Force’s Gorgon Stare surveillance sensor system.

In canceling the contract, DISA said the response period following the award to ATG, “provided an opportunity for industry to respond to the requirement,” and that “based upon capability statements and responses received, DISA plans to pursue competitive means through the National Security Agency Acquisition Resource Center to satisfy the requirement.”